Is it Really Better Staying On Property?

[becd]

For me staying on site is worth it's weight in Gold. I solemnly promise to never again complain about waiting for the bus or boat after last year - we switched from the Dolphin to the Sheraton Villa's because the Dolphin was sold out for one of our nights when we made our reservation. Never again! It is technically only a few miles from the parks to our villa but the traffic was UNREAL. It took us over an hour to get home and again, it was right outside of the gates. We started psycho calling the Dolphin tp see if they had any cancellations and sure enough something turned up. I have never been so happy to get back to on property!

 

[401Disney]

For my wife and I staying on property is the only way to go. Its just her and I so its far less expensive for us than for a family of 4. But we stayed off site once when we went with her family and I hated being outside of the Disney bubble. It was just a different experience to me and I didn't enjoy it at all. From going to everything being so perfectly themed and immaculate to a bland condo was just depressing. We were only a few miles off property but even the difference in transportation was terrible. If you don't want to stick to that hotels strict transportation times your stuck with renting a car which can sometimes be a pretty large cost for some people.

Not to mention the level of service you get on property is unrivaled in my opinion. My wife and I took the magical express to CBR one year and it was down pouring by the time we got to the resort. When our bags arrived at our room everything in our luggage was sopping wet. I went to concierge to ask them if there was anything they could do and they gave us money to wash and dry all of our clothes and den offered to replace anything that had gotten ruined. I don't think any off property resort would go the lengths Disney does to make the customer happy.

So for me its on property or nothing.

 

[khertz]

We are Wyndham owners, and staying offsite at Bonnet Creek has changed the way we travel. We love having the space, especially now that we have kids, and have found it difficult when we actually have to stay in a regular hotel room and don't have the separation that a villa provides. Yes, there is DVC, but with our timeshare paid off, it's a no-brainer to stay there for free and spend our vacation money on other things besides accommodations. Our first trip offsite, I thought I would hate having to drive a car to the parks every day and not using the buses. Turns out, we LOVE having the freedom of our car! It makes it so easy to go back for a break during the day, which we like to do, when we can just get to the car and drive there instead of waiting at the bus stop. I do miss the atmosphere of being onsite at times, but the benefits of staying at Bonnet Creek have pretty much won out over the years.

 

[NYHeel]

I'm a family of 5 and staying off-site is a no-brainer to me. I can't imagine being cramped in those tiny hotel rooms at exorbitant rates. Plus we need a kitchen as we eat strictly kosher. The Disney parks have one restaurant in each park that has readily available kosher food but it's basically pre-wrapped airplane food (though pretty good for airplane food). We'll do that for 2 or 3 nights but need the ability to eat real meals in our room.

We'll usually eat cereal for breakfast in the room and then dinner that we've bought some frozen kosher food we were able to find in supermarkets. There are a few kosher restaurants in the Orlando area but they are usually really crowded since we go in late January when all the Jewish private schools are closed.

But even without the kosher aspect of it, I still would far prefer the space provided off site for a family of more than 4 over staying on site. The prices for the 2 bedroom suites with a kitchen on site are beyond outlandish and I just couldn't see stuffing 5+ people into those tiny Disney rooms for extended stay. Maybe a night or two but not longer.

Now my wife and I are heading down to Miami for a weekend in October and are going to drive up to Orlando and use an unexpired day we have on tickets from summer 2001. So we're actually booked to stay one night in one of the all star hotels at Disney. But it's just the two of us, it's only one night, and we probably won't get to the hotel until after 10:00 on Sunday night (we're going to the Parks on Monday). We'll have a car with us and will just check out early Monday morning so we'll probably be in the hotel for less than 10 hours total. It's really just a quick place to sleep.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

In full disclosure, I've never stayed off-site. I can't imagine I ever would. Personally, I love the bus system. I don't really have a problem waiting 15-20 minutes. When I compare it to driving: exit park and make you way to car (monorail, tram?), unlock car and get all your stuff packed in, get DD into her seat, navigate back to hotel, unpack DD, unpack car, get everyone and everything back to our room....I dunno, just seems like a hassle to me. Then you have to reverse the whole process again after nap time. Plus I have to worry about gas, or DH getting the rental into a fender bender (something always seems to happen when we rent a car).

Now, that being said, off site is an excellent option for many people. It can be significantly cheaper. And I always keep the option in the back of my mind for folks who are planning on limited budgets.

 

[Gilrond]

As someone who uses an ECV (scooter), staying onsite is a must for transportation to the parks. Yes, technically the ECV disassembles and can be placed in trunk of car but I am not strong enough to do that. I am grateful for Disney's accessible transportation. Yes, when you are ECV #5 in line the end of the day at the MK, you will wait until the 3rd bus.

 

[dragitoff]

In full disclosure, I've never stayed off-site. I can't imagine I ever would. Personally, I love the bus system. I don't really have a problem waiting 15-20 minutes. When I compare it to driving: exit park and make you way to car (monorail, tram?), unlock car and get all your stuff packed in, get DD into her seat, navigate back to hotel, unpack DD, unpack car, get everyone and everything back to our room....I dunno, just seems like a hassle to me. Then you have to reverse the whole process again after nap time. Plus I have to worry about gas, or DH getting the rental into a fender bender (something always seems to happen when we rent a car).

Now, that being said, off site is an excellent option for many people. It can be significantly cheaper. And I always keep the option in the back of my mind for folks who are planning on limited budgets.

I might be in the minority but driving does not bother me. I have a 40 minute commute (one way) to work daily and I spend a decent amount of time traveling for work (both driving and flying). I didn't mind the bus service so much when it was a family of 4 as it was pretty easy navigate on and off for us. Now that there are 8 of us and we still bring a jogging stroller for the 3 year old, it was a chore getting on and off the buses in May. The parks were not overly crowded; however we were packed into the buses tight and kids first thing in the morning at WDW are jacked up. It was a challenge keeping them controlled so they didn't bother others on the bus, especially those not used to getting up so early.
I am seriously loving all this feedback. It's so amazing to see how divided Dis'ers are on this topic. Please keep the discussion going!

 

[dragitoff]

As someone who uses an ECV (scooter), staying onsite is a must for transportation to the parks. Yes, technically the ECV disassembles and can be placed in trunk of car but I am not strong enough to do that. I am grateful for Disney's accessible transportation. Yes, when you are ECV #5 in line the end of the day at the MK, you will wait until the 3rd bus.

Now, I can totally understand that view! I can imagine that service is invaluable to you.

 

[revdon64]

We have three adopted kids and an adult daughter who travels with us sometimes. On our next trip in December we're getting connecting rooms at POP for the six of us. To be honest, we've never stayed off property so we couldn't really speak about that, but we do love the perks of being in the bubble. Transportations/dining plan/ADRs/FP+ heck, even the magical express and not having to worry about picking up our checked luggage at the airport is a bonus. Now we will have a minivan this year because our oldest daughter is driving down from South Carolina while we fly from New Jersey, but I'm not sure that we'll use it much.

 

[Bullseye]

We own DVC so staying off-site isn't really an option. We just moved up to two bedroom villas this year and the amount of room is just awesome. We love being on property. Things like an african savannah, SAB, watching wishes from jacuzzi tub, or monorail service can't be found offsite. Plus I think we would miss the perks like EMH , having park purchases shipped to room, using the bus service when needed. Even though we drive a rental car everywhere we go, it's nice to have the buses available when some fragment of our group feels like doing their own thing.

 

[sunshine1]

For me this year was the first time i had been able to afford to stay on property. I loved it. A bit of a pain having to get 3 buses to the shopping outlets but i thought it was great staying onsite.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I've stayed offsite twice and enjoyed those trips. Then we stayed onsite and it really works for us the best.

- No driving. Any vacation I go on I do not drive. My SO drives far to work and wouldn't want to drive either.

- My kids are getting older and like to stay back at the room while we go to the parks or go to the parks without us.

- Having purchases delivered to the room.

- Being able to charge everything to the room.

- 60 days for FP+

- 180+10 for ADR's


We won't be going for two years because we have two all inclusive Caribbean trips coming up. We just like that type of trip. No driving, charging to the room, etc. It works for us.

If I had a larger family I would definitely stay in a house offsite.

 

[Praying Colonel]

I've stayed both onsite and offsite and have had good and bad experiences with both. IMHO it's a lot like many other aspects of a WDW vacation: you have to research your options and know what works best for your traveling party.

 

[CAS239]

Off site>on site

But it depends on the people.

We're AP's that drive to the park. The value resorts are highly overpriced, we don't use the buses as for us it's a lot faster to use our own car, we don't eat in the hotel lobby, we don't use the hotel pool, we stay in the parks more than in the hotel room.

We save money and have bigger and nicer rooms off site. It's nice to be able to book FP's at 60 days out, but that's really the only draw for us. The value resorts are like that of a motel 6 imo. So if we stay on site in the future, it would have to be a moderate or deluxe hotel. But spending that much on a room would be tough if you're not spending much time in the room.

 

[tlmadden73]

I did both recently in the last 12 months.

First was a short stay in a huge house that we shared with two other families. The cost was pretty darn cheap and since we only had two park days planned, we didn't mind driving. We even hopped one day.
Upside:
Drive was only about 10-15 minutes (shorter than most bus rides from the other resorts)
Ease of hopping. Driving from AK to DHS was probably a lot quicker than a bus.
Breakfast in the house.

Downside:
Parking cost - $17 is pretty steep on top of a ticket.
Still need to walk/wait for a tram to get to the front gate. that takes time.
No EMH

This last trip (another short trip) we stayed on site (Pop Century) and it was equally as affordable as the house, and we enjoyed the theming and just being immersed in Disney 24x7 whether it was the pool, gift shop or restaurant.
My son enjoyed the bus rides and added to the excitement of the day (except the last day.. he was SICK of them by then). I enjoyed just parking the car and forgetting about it for days (we drove down ... so no rush to get back in!)

I really really enjoyed the 180 day ADRs (we got BOG lunch with ease) .. and the 60 day FP+ . (got the big attractions).
I really enjoyed getting the Magic Bands for free and paying for everything through them. Not having to whip out the wallet ever was very convenient.
My in-laws came too and had own separate room. My sister-in-law's family even were there (but stayed at Art of Animation). .. it was fun to just walk over to their room.

I'd stay on-site again for myself (and stay in another resort for variety) unless it was just going to be much more affordable for a large group to get a house.

 

[CAS239]

Just to be clear, whether staying on site or off site, anyone can make ADR's at 180 days. Only difference is on site get 180+however many 10 of their trip up to 10 days.

Think a few think only on site is 180 days in advance. When really that's far to away for anyone lol.

 

[smiths02]

I looked really hard into staying off-site for our next June trip, but we booked on-site again...that could still change. Factors for us, even as a larger family (5) WITH our own car.
--We might want to split up a little bit next year (for a few special activities). So even though we have a car, we can use Disney transport. And sometimes, even if you have a car, Disney transport is nice (you can have a glass of wine at dinner or not deal with a parking mess, etc.)
--Theme. The AoA suites and hotel just is so Disney in a way an off-site condo or hotel is not.
--Cleaning. I like having someone clean our room everyday. Such a perk of vacation.
--Access to food court/restaurant/room service. I like that we can get food without driving anywhere or cooking.
--Now, we could get cleaning and restaurant at an off-site hotel (versus house/condo), but we don't fit in traditional rooms at those places, so the price isn't a lot more desirable (since we are getting two rooms) PLUS I don't really want to be in two rooms with kids our ages (a suite is much more comfortable)
--Breaks are easier, and we take breaks
--the Bubble...just like the everything being Disney especially since we aren't commando people
--We like being together anyhow, at least for now, we have a huge house with 5 bedrooms, we really only use 2 bedrooms. Even in an AoA suite, we had 3 beds, but generally ended up only using 2 of them. (Now, the extra bathroom, we did take advantage of)

Now, for a family bigger than 6, I couldn't justify the cost of a 2BR villa. But I totally understand not wanting 2 regular rooms either. So if we didn't fit in an AoA suite or cabin at Ft. Wilderness (or maybe a 1 bedroom villa), then I would be renting a house offsite. (The price difference for us is about $2000 for 8-9 nights on-site suite versus off-site. In our world, right, now, that is do-able, but if we had to get a 2 BR villa, the price differential would be $4-5k, I just couldn't make that leap)

 

[smiths02]

I see a lot of people mention needing space to spread out. Are you kids older? I have a 9 year old and 2 recently turned 3 year olds...no matter how big our house, there is no separate space and no privacy. And especially on vacation, everyone wanted to be with everyone else constantly.

 

[dragitoff]

--Cleaning. I like having someone clean our room everyday. Such a perk of vacation.
-

They do not offer complimentary daily cleaning of villas which is the only thing my family can fit into without having to split into 2 separate rooms. That was definitely a downside because I agree I like having a clean room to come back to after a long day in the parks.

 

[loves to dive]

I see a lot of people mention needing space to spread out. Are you kids older? I have a 9 year old and 2 recently turned 3 year olds...no matter how big our house, there is no separate space and no privacy. And especially on vacation, everyone wanted to be with everyone else constantly.

I think the space issue may grow as the family size grows, those with 1,2 or even 3 children don't seem to need it as much as those with higher numbers. I don't say seem to insult anyone but because I'm one of 6 kids, we never had anything bigger than a 3 bedroom 1 bath house while I was growing up. Space was not something we even considered, if there weren't 3 people in the bathroom at a time, something was wrong (5 boys 1 girl, me and I'm the youngest.) Even as the only girl I had to share a bedroom with one brother, the other 4 were in one bedroom. We didn't go on vacation very often but when we did it was either one hotel room with two beds and loads of kids in sleeping bags on the floor or camping (not in a cabin I'm talking tent and sleeping bag). As an adult with only one child, I can understand the issue others with big families have and certainly see the point and I think if we had been given the option of spreading out on vacation we probably would have taken it. My mom certainly would not have cooked nor done laundry, hello 6 kids, vacation means no doing chores. She wouldn't even eat at buffets on the rare occasion we got to go out to eat, she would say she could serve herself at home, if she was paying someone they better be waiting on her (a little bit of a diva my mom). I'm the same way, on the rare occasion we stay at condos while diving, I don't do laundry and we go out to eat (DH has been known to throw wet bathing suits in a dryer).